lovin it

Well, we've been in Pennsylvania for about 2 months now. ( Wow time flys!) Nick is totally loving school right now. I'm loving it too... I love that I see him so much more than I did when he was at BYU. I know that won't be the case here in a month or two... but I'm enjoying it while it lasts! He's already made lots of friends and thankfully rides to school each day with another member in the ward who's also a first year med student. I seriously get so worried when he goes to school and then leaves to come home. ( For real... lots of stories of people getting jacked walking near his campus.) Philly isn't messing around, yall. It's the city of brotherly love... but it's also the city of gangs and crime. Living here is going to make me BRAVE. ( And those of you who know me, KNOW I'm a total sissy when it comes to "bad guys".) I need some pepper spray. 

Anyway, we have absolutely LOVED it out here so far. It's been such a pleasant surprise that we're really actually enjoying it out here. It's been hard being away from family and close friends of ours, but the Lord has blessed us so much living in such a great place! When Nick made his final decision to move out here... my heart sank for a few weeks but I tried to keep my head up and look at the positive. I kept singing" I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord..." and that seemed to help. I know we're only out here for a few years and that's it! I'm hoping to make the most of it and to just enjoy it while we're here. It helps having such an amazing ward. They have really taken us under their wing and have been so great to us. We truly are so thankful for that. 

Besides the fact that we've already met such wonderful people, Philadelphia is SUCH an amazing place! There is SO much to do here. It is possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I can't tell you how excited I am for the fall out here. This place is covered in trees... and I think I'll be in heaven when I see the leaves change color. 

This past weekend, we were able to do a session in the Washington D.C. Temple. Our sweet friends watched Madeline for the day so we could go. The D.C. is "our" temple and it's about 3 hours away. The drive there was so pretty and we got to drive through Delaware and Maryland to get there. The D.C temple is quite possibly the biggest temple I've ever seen! It was so beautiful and breathtaking. The landscaping around the temple was so pretty. It was so fun and relaxing to spend time with Nick that day and what better way to spend together than going to the temple. It made me miss Utah and the fact that I could WALK to the temple if I wanted to or have the option to go to another temple not too far away. I really miss that. Luckily, Philadelphia's temple will be finished at the end of next year I think. Yay! After we did a session at the temple, we ate at CAFE RIO. It was the most delicious Cafe Rio I've ever had. Apparently, there are only 2 states on the east coast that have Cafe Rio: Maryland and Virginia. 

Some of our new, dear friends... playing games of course. :)

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to Intercourse, Pennsylvania ( which is about 1 hour away.) IT WAS BREATH TAKING you guys. SOOO so pretty. Just the drive out there alone was so much fun and just beautiful. We went to a little amish village where there's lots of yummy treats, food, and shops. It was SO much fun. I loved every second of it. I can't wait to take my sisters and mom when they come. I seriously wanted to live out there. All the amish ride on little horses and buggys and they wear dresses and bonnets. They're some of the nicest... most humble people you will ever meet. We had lunch and enjoyed walking around all the shops and checking everything out. Next time I go back I want to take my camera out and snap lots of pictures of just the landscapes alone! ( The pictures below are all pictures I took while Nick was driving.) You get the idea though. I'd love to live in a place like that! I want to go back every weekend. haha.

They have a store there with millions of different homemade jams and salsa. You can try it all! 

their way of transportation 

They had lots of cute shops everywhere. I saw this little wooden rocking horse ( made by the amish of course) and fell in love. We got it for Madeline for Christmas! 

We thought this was so funny. This gas station is right outside the village and it was out of business and weeds were everywhere. Haha. They don't need gas stations out there. 

Insert Heather & Nick's house somewhere in this photo. 

I loved all the hills and farmlands. 

the sweet baby girl loved it too!